What, if Anything, is a Hoary Redpoll?

Posted by Bob Lefebvre, Calgary The last two winters have seen huge irruptions of redpolls into the Calgary area, and across much of southern Canada and the northern continental US. This doesn’t happen every year, and it has been difficult to find any Common Redpolls in some recent winters. Finding …

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My GBBC – Plus 1 Minus 1

The Great Backyard Bird Count, which takes place annually in February, is a great way for people to get involved in the citizen science aspect of birding. I’m always keeping an eye on the birds in my yard anyway, so for the GBBC I just count the numbers of little …

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Winter Owls In Canada

The last week of February means our Canadian winter is on the way out, and there’s no better way to mark the occasion than with this absolutely stunning video of northern owls from Canada Wild. Andrew Manske’s slow motion owl footage. Snowy owl, great gray owl and hawk owls hunting …

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The Backyard Bird Count Is Coming!

From February 17-20, take part in a free, family-friendly, educational activity that is loads of fun and supports bird conservation! Each year, tens of thousands of Canadians and Americans take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), counting birds wherever they happen to be. The possibilities are endless! The …

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Here A Redpoll, There a Redpoll…

Everywhere a common redpoll. My yard has been full of these appealing little finches for the past couple of months. These small seed eaters aren’t choosy – they like niger seed, black oil sunflowers and sunflower chips. They eat at the feeders or on the ground, but I’ve never seen …

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Wednesday Wings: Boreal Chickadees

Guest Photos by Daniel Arndt, Calgary birder and nature photographer Dan has also written a terrific post for the Birds Calgary blog on these sweethearts of the boreal forest and many other birds that share their habitat. You can check out more of his stunning bird photography on his Flickr …

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Snowy Owl Invasion

Spectacular Snowy Owls are on the move! The owls are irrupting well south of their usual winter range in Canada, with reports as far south as Kansas. To read more about the phenomenon in eBird, select this link. If you don’t see a Snowy Owl in your birding ventures, you can …

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Project Feeder Watch 2011

Backyard birdwatchers across Canada are invited to take part in the 25th season of Project FeederWatch, from November 12 through April 6. With each season, FeederWatch increases in importance as a unique and indispensable monitoring tool for more than 100 bird species that winter in North America. Last year, over …

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